


Five Conversations Madison's Mom Had

by Tassos



Series: Five Conversations [2]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: 14_valentines, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-02-06
Updated: 2007-02-06
Packaged: 2017-10-02 11:34:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tassos/pseuds/Tassos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>See title</p>
            </blockquote>





	Five Conversations Madison's Mom Had

**Author's Note:**

> After I posted the first Five Conversations, I was instructed by shrewreader to fix it. So I did.

**1 **

In grade three, the day after Madison told her mom that math was boring and it wasn't fair that the boys got to spend all the time on the classroom computers - they always ran ahead and got there first and complained loudly when it was time to switch and they never left anyone alone when it wasn't their turn and Ms. Taylor didn't do anything about it - her mom went in to talk to her teacher after school.

It was horribly embarrassing to listen as her mom talked about being fair and monitoring the kids to make sure that everyone had an equal, undisturbed time on the computers and how studies showed that elementary math and science education was substandard enough already without hurting girls further by obliquely discouraging them. Madison hadn't understood that part, but she did understand that when the boys were kicked off the computer first thing the next day, that was her mom's doing.

 

* * *

 

**2 **

"I'm quitting the science club," Madison announced at dinner.

"Oh?" her mom looked up. "Why is that?"

"Because the boys don't listen to us," said Madison. True, three of the four girl members were in grade 10, the bottom of the totem pole, but that hadn't stopped Harrison's idea for battle bots to get on the table.

She was sick of robotics and being ignored. "Kyle, the president said if we didn't like it we could quit, so me and Kate are quitting."

"So what now?"

"There's no now, there's quitting. I guess I'll focus on dancing," Madison shrugged half heartedly. Though she loved ballet, it wasn't the only thing she loved.

"Why don't you start your own science group?" asked her mom.

Madison stopped with her fork halfway to her mouth and blinked as the world of extracurriculars spun into a different focus.

 

* * *

 

**3 **

When Madison tied for first place in the school science fair with Jake there was a big commotion about who to send to the Regional Fair. "I like your project better," Madison told Jake while they waited for the meeting of parents and teachers to start. "Mine? No way, yours is way cooler," Jake shook his head with a rueful smile. Madison shrugged; there was a reason they tied.

"An independent panel with their names removed," her mom was saying over Jake's dad's insistence that his son's project was better. "That's the only way to be completely fair."

 

* * *

 

**4 **

Madison was so excited she was practically bouncing in her seat. Her chapter of the Society for Women Engineers had been planning this panel of Notable Women in Science for months - sending out invitations, getting University approval and space, confirming guest speakers and travel plans, advertising all over campus. Last night she'd spent with her fellow organizers putting together the programs, drunk on lack of sleep.

But now it was happening and her mom was answering the first question of the event. "I got interested in science early on. My father was a professor of chemistry and my older brother was obsessed with knowing everything. One of my earliest memories is of listening to my brother explain rainbows and refraction to me. I don't think I understood much of it, but after that an answer less complete wasn't enough."

 

* * *

 

**5 **

"So I told him if he wanted me barefoot and pregnant he could take a picture and Photoshop it," Madison told her mom over coffee. "I need to focus on work now, get a foot in the door. He actually asked how long I expected to last."

Her mom winced in sympathy. "So no more Tyler."

"No more Tyler," Madison confirmed. She didn't need someone who didn't think she could make it at a top engineering firm. "It's not that I don't want a family," she added. "I'm just going to do it on my terms."

Her mom smiled, bright and proud. "I know you will."


End file.
